Welcome to Authentic Sound

An innovative and open platform of musical experimentation. We believe that many of the essential aspects of performance practice of music from Bach to Beethoven and beyond have yet to be discovered.

Authentic Sound was initially founded in 2014 by Wim Winters as a YouTube channel to showcase the authentic, but relatively seldom heard “voice” of the 18th century unfretted clavichord. The channel developed rapidly into a platform presenting thought-provoking performances of music from Bach to Beethoven and even Chopin. Particular focus today is placed on the reconstruction of original tempi, perhaps the most important, but still missing link in understanding the original thoughts of the composer.

In 2018, Authentic Sound officially evolved to a recording label whose prime goal is to deliver high quality audio recordings that not only illustrate the outcome of our research, but also try to reveal long-hidden but often surprisingly powerful musical emotions in seemingly familiar musical works. While currently focusing on the work of Wim Winters, the label will soon expand to a broader group of dedicated musicians who share similar passion.

The musicians of Authentic Sound will work closely with Lorenz Gadient, author of the groundbreaking book Takt und Pendelsschag to come to a completely new and comprehensive understanding of tempi from Bach until deep in the 19th century. This will lead to, along with other projects, a new book that presents our research findings in a practical manner for performers.

As a label, our heart lies with the analog recording. We record on a fully restored 1981 Studer A80r tape recorder. The work and care of both our label and musicians is externalized in the hand-made design of the covers by Shelby Lewis. The discs are pressed with only the highest quality in mind by Record Industry, one of the world’s most experienced pressing plants, but the same care that we lavish on our LPs also goes in the production of the CDs.

A release of the complete Bach Partitas on Clavichord (LP/CD) is planned at the end of 2018. For 2019 and especially 2020, the year of Beethoven’s 250th birthday, Authentic Sound will start a longer recording project with all of Beethoven’s keyboard works and chamber music with a newly constructed copy a 1816 Johann Fritz pianoforte by Joris Potvlieghe. You can also expect the start of a Mozart series with the 6 Munich Sonatas on clavichord, the first book of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier as a second large Bach/clavichord chapter, as well as music by Clementi, Schubert, Chopin and others.

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